AppsLab Research in 2015

As we exit 2015 and enter 2016, I’m reflecting on all that happened in AppsLab and looking forward to the future. Our 2015 research spanned the spectrum – from attitudinal to behavioral, domestic to international, controlled to ad hoc, low to high tech, and many more research tactics. I won’t bore you with stats and an exhaustive list of studies. Rather, here is a brief recap of some of our research and interests.

We studied smartwatches a bit this year. We ran focus groups to gauge interest and identify use cases. We ran user journal studies to learn about user adoption and behavior patterns. We ran guerrilla usability studies with prototypes to evaluate features and interactions. We used stars and stickies to gather feedback. We used Oracle Social Research Management (SRM) to glean insight from social media.

Thao and Ben leading a focus group at HCM World in March.

Lo-fi research at the OAUX Exchange during OpenWorld in October.

Ben, Tawny and Guido our guerrilla testing team at OpenWorld in October.

We designed and built a Smart Office, which we used to spark conversations and perspectives on the future of work and user experience. Ironically, we used low tech methods (with posters, stickies and stickers) to gather feedback on the high tech office.

Smart Office demonstration at the OAUX Exchange during OpenWorld in October.

We also got out of the labs and headed to customers and partners in Europe and Asia for global perspectives.

Anthony Lai showing OAUX extensibility to a group of partners in Beijing in April.

To close out 2015 and start 2016, we opened the OAUX Gadget Lab, a hands-on lab where visitors will be able to come in and experience the latest technologies with us.